Garden transitions

I have a feeling that today was the last nice day to work outside until about April. And unfortunately, I had procrastinated my way into a HUGE backload of work. I had to write two exams, finish the joy that is assessment of the student research program and write lecture notes for my class on Wednesday. That last one sounds like I’m trying to get ahead doesn’t it? Ha! Next week is advising week, which means that I meet with each of my advisees for at least 30 minutes. I have 22 advisees. None of this includes all of the stuff at home that needs to get done. My poor orchids are starting to droop. The carpet is starting to move, even though all of the cats are sleeping.

The garden is in a sorry, sorry state. I did take a few minutes to rake up some leaves which were killing the grass. I also cleaned out my water feature. My sad water feature. I loved having it during the summer, but come to find out guppies don’t like it when it gets cold. They die. In droves. I’m also wondering if a raccoon decided to use it as a buffet.

Here are a few pictures that bid farewell to summer.

The tomatoes didn’t fare too well this summer. Between the deer and the slugs, I think I got one whole large red one. The yellows pears did better. They made a really yummy bruschetta.

I harvested a few more even after the first frost this year. The frost caught me by surprise this year. I lost my African violets and didn’t get in any of my basil this year. Thankfully I moved my orchids in about two weeks earlier.

My geranium didn’t do too well this year at all. It never filled out. I wonder if that is because the birds were using it as a place to eat the sunflower seeds. Too bad the deer like sunflowers as much as I do.

There is one last splash of color in the garden – the gaura. This is my second time planting them in my perennial garden. If they don’t make it, I’ll probably keep planting them. They are so beautiful and vibrant in the bed. I love how the flowers dance at the end of the stalk in the slightest of breezes. Plus, the deer leave them alone. What more can I say?

More photos

More photos from wine tasting last weekend!

I never realized that wine grapes were so small. I guess it makes sense when you think about it because you want lots of skin contact for the beautiful purple color of wine. But there so small!!

Booker Vineyards, a new winery that Husband has found. The story behind the name is really great. The Booker brothers were adopted by a farming family. They never married and because a fixture in the Paso Robles area. When they died, they donated a lot of money for academic scholarships. I think this winery is located on some of the old Booker land.

When we left Paso Tuesday morning, we drove east to I-5. The route is through some of the emptiest land I have seen, and I grew up in West Texas! It really had a beauty all of its own. The mountains in the distance were gorgeous, even if there was lots of haze. (And the photos were taken from the window of the car at 65 mph!)

We passed through some pistachio or almond farms located in the middle of nowhere. There was probably two miles of trees that went back further than the eye could see. Then all of a sudden, they stopped. It was kind of odd.

It was also odd when we passed through about half a mile of oil derrick farms.

I couldn’t believe how close they were together. I thought that they would bump into each other as they started their “Oil Rain Dance”.

We got out of California just in time. The rains started coming down and LA was featured on StormWatch! You know we got back to MI to balmy weather and sunshine.

OK, I lied. We got back to highs in the low 50s and snow on Friday night. Life sucks.

Pictures from CA

Photos from our latest wine tasting adventure!

Well part one. I need some fodder for tomorrow. These are photos from the Melville Harvest BBQ. Too much fun and lots of wine!

It was an amazing day:

Cold, but beautiful.

How could someone leave a wine glass unattended?!?

Once again, Claire was the smart one. She brought her gloves!

Cover of Wine Spectator anyone?

Action shots at dinner:

Waiting our turn for food.

Can you see the purple teeth? How about the grey hair?

Get that damn camera out of my face!

Husband just about thought he died and went to heaven.

Bumblebees

I’m pretty lucky. I’ve never been stung by a bee or a wasp. I think they know it’s because if they are good, they’ll get their photo taken:

I’m ready for my close up.

I’m a little shy.

Pollen never tasted so good!

I love the last one. He is such a messy eater! If you look close you can see the pollen all over his body. The yellow spots on his legs are pollen sacks full almost to bursting. The bees are in a frenzy all over the garden, trying to gather up the last bit of goodness before the winter sets in. I even used my flash for the last one. I was a little nervous about that, thinking that he would come at me in surprise, but we’re not that different it turns out. When I’m hungry, you could shoot me and I probably wouldn’t turn away from my food either!

To get these shots, I was laying on the ground, rolling around to get the best shot. At one point I looked up and had an audience:

What the heck are you doing?

This is Lexie, our neighbors dog. She is so good and usually stays in her own yard, unless I am outside. She loves to come say hi!

Lazy Weekend

I did nothing this weekend. Well, let me take that back. I did stuff this weekend, just nothing that had to do with work. I spent two blissful days being lazy and doing things that I wanted to do. And what I did on Sunday was play with my camera. My friend Amy gave me some good pointers on close-up photography and I spent the morning playing with my f-stop.

These are the fall colors in my gardens.

Careful, these guys breathe fire.

Even spiders appreciate beauty.

Pride.

After and before.

Butterfly masquerade!

Marsh or just plain mallow?

Beauty is in the eye of the marigold.

Autumn joy.

Bartender, bring me another.

I also spent the day playing with my christmas present that I finally opened. Husband got me a Canon Selphy CP770 printer when he got me my camera. I hadn’t opened it because who really needs to print out photos? I have them all on my computer. Well, Husband finally guilted me into setting it up today and boy was I wrong.

I really like this little printer. The print cartridges and paper are sold together. Each cartridge can print 36 photos. The paper comes in packs of 36. When you are out of paper, you are out of ink. It make more sense than that whole 8 buns but 10 dogs thing! The prints are rich and actually look like photos, not like cheap printouts.

Only two disadvantages – 4×6 is the largest size and the prints are a little dark. The first one I can’t do anything about, the second I can. I’ve wasted a lot of prints playing with the exposure in iPhoto and comparing the printout to the original. I almost have it down.

Tomorrow or Tuesday: Bees.